The celebrity chef was ­astounded to see inmates given five meal choices a night and constant access to television, video games and gym facilities while filming his Behind Bars programme.

Gordon, 45, has been working at Brixton Prison, South London, teaching 12 inmates to cook and sell their Bad Boys’ Bakery goods to businesses on the outside.

He said he was saddened by prisoners’ lack of work ethic, claiming the lax regime gave them no incentive to toil over a stove.

He said: “What I wasn’t prepared for was how easy it is for them. I was astounded at the comfort zone they carve out.

“Five meal choices a night – that was the one I really struggled with. I thought it was a bit of a joke, coupled with the 24-hour TV, Xbox, DVDs and gym.”

The chef said most people could not watch TV until 4am and added: “I’d like to have a gym seven days a week, by the way.”

He said seeing how soft the ­regime was behind bars made him angry and “quite ­embarrassed”.

Gordon said: “I thought we were a nation of grafters... that we had the spirit of working harder than ­anyone. Why would they want to come out and bust their arse for 10 hours a day when it’s easy for them to do nothing? I find that hard to come to terms with.”

Gordon said he was ­flabbergasted by the high quality of kitchen equipment provided to prisoners on the Channel 4 show.

He told Guardian Weekend: “Even a ­professional on the outside doesn’t walk into a kitchen that good.”

Gordon has never been shy of speaking his mind. He once told how a diner tried to sue him for “loss of enjoyment” after a row over ­having ketchup with red mullet at one of his US ­restaurants.

He had a rant on Twitter ­recently at “sick” ­followers who criticised him for having a blind contestant on US MasterChef.